Creek Indians in the Last Years of the 18th Century - Book Report/Review Example

Creek Indians in the Last Years of the 18th Century. Introduction During the early summer of the year 1735, approximately fifty American natives from the river of Chattahoochee commenced for a bluff at the mouth of River Savannah (Saunt11). The Indians established this 300 mile trip as demanded by their latest British neighbors. These British had set up the colony of Georgia in the previous years. When the Indians arrived, they would be acknowledged with gifts and a magnificent military display. Before the eminent audience, the guests would reply with their story about authority and power. The Indian story became meaningless on the eminent audience. The story persisted indicating a Red bloody River. A white fire resulted into red smoke. Saunt tells us that red would symbolize war while white signified peace. The white path would be preferred, but the red hearts became the icon of the Creek men. They had chosen to remain peaceful through fair opinions rather than coercion. This presented an open subject to Creeks about which route should be undertaken in the future (Saunt 15. This paper will scrutinize the changes that brought divisions and ultimately aggravated civil wars among the late 18th century Indian Creeks. Such wars had various impacts in which the paper shall discuss with reference to the Saunt collective works. Changes and civil wars Saunt Explains transformations having taken place in the creek society during the past decades which followed the American Revolution. He explains the tale from the backdrop written on a skin of a buffalo. The creek leaders had earlier created order by persuasion and negotiation rather than by force. Many Creeks strived to accumulate considerable quantities of material possessions after the American Revolution. Some creeks further amassed a fortune in slaves and cattle, and wished to defend and shield their properties from their neighbors. Leaders stated ruling by coercion and force, which provoked confrontations. Changes in property and power posed complicated questions about Creek personality. It aggravated persistent tensions between men and women, and fomented disagreements over the accountability of individuals towards an amorphous Creek nation. Saunt starts by describing a society of the Creek in which alliances would be negotiable and conditional. Fair persuasion would be the only root of power. A universal commitment to the peaceful path, or the white existed in stable tension on the war path, or the red. Tension would exist not only between the white and red towns and clans, but also between the old and the young, and between women and men. The creeks recognized this tension healthy, in which they enjoyed the deliberations it produced. However, due to the discrete nature of authority and power among the Creek Indians in the Deep South, they had to conform on story telling to sustain unity and order among their clans and towns (Saunt 27). The relationship of Creek to property existed before the 1760s. During the 1770s, a communal nature of possessions among the Creeks would be noted by their conspicuous unselfishness and generosity. Unresponsiveness towards possession of property would be reflected in the Creek uses of land, housing, and other actions that hindered a capitalist society. In this case, practices involving possession of wealth and property within the hands of a few would be prevented. The ancient possessions would be burned annually during the Pokista occasions. The valuable possessions would be interred along with the dead, and others would be shared mutually among relatives. The antagonistic virtue, and not wealth, for they never despised any of their blood people on account of dress or riches. In the 1760s, a number of factors posturing serious pressure to the relationship between property and creeks arose. I. The creek generation by the name Mestizos attuned to business practices of the European colonialism which came to age and disrupted the creeks’ old traditions. II. The deer population started showing some signs of decline, which forced some hunters to seek other alternatives of economic pursuit. III. The colonial encroachments and cattle on the land of the Creeks paralleled their developments. IV. The African American slaves attached with the suggestions of property in the 1760s. The population of slaves surrounding the Creek nation rose radically in that decade. (Saunt43). Saunt takes a non-traditional and a penetrating look at the radiant Alexander McGillivray. Alexander was a wealthy Scots Indian who endorsed himself as the Creeks head in the 1780s. During the pay both the United States and Spain, McGillivray controlled with conflicting interests. He exploited his authority and power among the Creeks. The prominent rise of McGillivray signaled the commencement of thirty years of spectacular change in Creek country. Any other Mestizos would not hasten such a transformation more than Alexander. Saunt asserts, McGillivray, by his attempt to centralize power and authority, he had begun a development that would culminate into the Red Stick War (Saunt 69). During the 1780s and 1790s, other Creeks and a few Mestizos began supplanting fair arguments with the tomahawk (Saunt 90). Beside the increasing number of Mestizos Creeks, they demanded private property protection and trade relations. The powerful and the novel United States obligated the Indian Creeks to establish a central executive power that could control individuals. The United States would not sacrifice white crackers like the British (Saunt 97). The traditional justice system of the Creek patently differed from that of the Europeans. In conjunction with leadership of the clan, the Creek justice worked under the principle of exchange. This involved a life for life, in addition, it disregarded motive or intend. The obligation of the European justice aided a general turn down in clans; throughout the interim, it formed the Creeks’ criminal class (Saunt101). Incompatible division emerged between the Creeks. Fences and locks became the common place, and a lately formed National Council of the Creek supplanted the clan justice. Harsh punishments for dishonesty would be imposed. In 1797, a United States Indian, agent Hawkins Benjamin arrived with plans of civilization. Tensions between clans and even women and men heightened. With the plans of civilization, accumulation of wealth became obvious, while challenges regarding gender roles would be problematic (Saunt 148). In 1797, the Indian Creeks experienced the most horrible famine in the living memory. As highlighted by Saunt, the National Council placed into budget other staff other than food (220). It budgeted for corn hoes, blankets, flints, bullets, steel, iron, and cash. The bullets signified how the Creeks had armed among themselves for civil wars. In regard to chapter nine, Saunt explains how drought, ceded hunting lands, and famine prolonged tensions between the poor and wealthy to the contravention point. There was a misunderstanding between the wealthy and the poor Creeks. The wealthy Creeks did not have sympathetic hearts towards their poor neighbors. Saunt explains that the wealthy Creeks often deserted their desperate neighbors. Those were the hungry years. These are years that the Creek leaders profited from bribes and stipends in exchange for the debts that existed. This favored the rich who were in debt majorly. Saunt asserts, “When Creeks and Seminoles emerged from the hungry years in 1812, they had immediate reason to take action against the new order” (206). In 1812, the mounting divisions in the Creek Indians society resulted into blood shed when the National council attempted to reprimand the Creeks drawn in attacks against settlers. Civil wars among the Creeks erupted as the red sticks launched attacks on the towns of Creeks that were friendly to the white settlers. The war expanded in the following years and involved the United States that was in conflicts with Great Britain. Despite the premature successes at fort Mims, the provoked United States inflicted a devastating defeat upon the red sticks (Saunt 132). Results of the war Regarding the Treaty brought up by Fort Jackson during the year 1814, the Creek chiefs would be obligated to agree to the rough cession to drive the Creeks out of the north Florida. Under President Jackson, the congress passed the Act of the Indian removal. The intent objective of this ruling was to displace all Indians residing in the east of Mississippi to other new lands in the west. The Creek Indians would be pressured into signing the Paynes landing treaty. They agreed to relocate within three years. In the agreement, a delegation comprising seven chiefs inspected the planned western reservation. If they could find it acceptable, the treaty could take effect. The chiefs signed the document establishing their satisfaction with the novel land. Upon their arrival to Florida, they condemned all agreements as being fraudulent. They claimed that there was a trick that forced them into signing away their Florida homeland rights. For the following three years, the Indian Creeks quietly defied all attempts for expatriation to the west. These were hostile feelings that provoked continuous wars. This second war resulted into many killings. Nearly 108 soldiers under the command of Major Francis Dade would be wiped out by the Creek Indians. In turn, the famous Seminole leader Osceola had killed Willey Thompson the Indian Agent near Ocala. Other destructions happened as a result of the war. Every sugar plantation within Florida had virtually been destroyed. The destruction ruined the biggest industry in the territory, which liberated hundreds of slaves. After defeating Major Dade, Edmund Gaines fled into Florida with over 1000 men. Their attempt to capture the Seminoles failed. Instead, Gaines and his force would be held under siege for many days before salvaged and mandated to withdraw. Under the Florida leadership, Governor Richard Call, the war resumed objectively to drive the Creek Indians from the land. Richard managed to compel the Creek Indians from their strongholds with some of them managing to escape. Majority of the senior leaders of the Creek would be killed leaving most Creeks with no say. Consequently, many would be killed and driven out of the land. Although most Creeks remained in the south, the removal policy signed by President Andrew Jackson proved inescapable. During this time, the administration realized that there would be impossibility to drive the remaining Creek Indians from Florida. Negotiations between the government and the remnants would be the resort for peace among them. An agreement would be reached to allow the Seminoles to continue residing in the southwest Florida. This dream shuttered in the year 1839 through an attack that occurred near Caloosahatchee River targeting the trading post. The government had no option other than to continue the fighting till every Creek would depart. Army would be brought in thousands in search for Seminoles into their hideouts. The fighting proceeded with few large battles and numerous small skirmishes. Almost all Seminoles would be removed. The Creeks’ path of tears became less dramatic than the Cherokees. Most of the Creeks in the lower region moved by water with almost 10 percent perishing on the way. Many of them died within the first years of stay in their new homeland. Conclusion Saunt, in his book the “The new order of things” gives the changes that took place among the Indian Creeks that divided the tribe and led them into Civil wars in the late 18th century. The paper has explained such changes with regard to the work of Saunt. The results of the war have also been analyzed. Work Cited: Saunt, Claudio. The New Order of Things: Property, Power, and Transformation of the Creek Indians, 1733-1816. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Print.   Read More